Obama, on Reddit, Proposed Overturning Citizens United

In the middle of a rambling conversation on the website Reddit on Wednesday afternoon, President Obama proposed the idea of a constitutional amendment to overturn the Supreme Court’s 2-year-old Citizens United decision.

Obama suggested that an effort to amend the U.S. Constitution would “shine a spotlight” on the after-effects of the decision, which paved the way for today’s unlimited political expenditures by political action committees.

Asked by a member of the Reddit community what he would do to end the influence of money in politics, Obama wrote that, “Over the longer term, I think we need to seriously consider mobilizing a constitutional amendment process to overturn Citizens United (assuming the Supreme Court doesn’t revisit it).”

“Even if the amendment process falls short,” he said, “it can shine a spotlight of [sic] the super-PAC phenomenon and help apply pressure for change.”